Digital Marketing and Technological Insight

As anyone with even a vague familiarity of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)  knows, a key component of search engine ranking success is having a solid SEO Linking Strategy. Building inbound links is also one of the parts that takes the most effort - when it comes to SEO links it is always quality over quantity (even though some people well tell you otherwise).

There are many ways to gain great inbound SEO links, but I have found over the years that nothing is more important than building relationships with the top website / blog owners who are relevant to specific categories I am targeting. What does this mean exactly? Everyone in SEO talks about how to get links, who to go after and how to contact them (form email anyone?). But, most people leave out a component that can work in your favor for the long run - building direct relationships.

Why is building relationships so important? The answer is simple - it saves you time & effort while giving you the results you need. For example, lets say you are building an SEO strategy for an e-commerce company and you are looking for some quality inbound links for specific keywords. You reach out to top related blogs and get a few to write posts about your products - great. But, what if through building that direct relationship you can go back to that  blog every time you have a new product you want to feature or a new keyword you are going after? If you have an existing relationship you can reach out to them directly and start building those quality links right away.

So, the question becomes how do you build these SEO linking relationships? Below is the method I have used with great success.

• As with any SEO link building campaign - identify the top websites / blogs in the specific keyword category you are going after.
• Of the chosen websites, target the ones that not only drive traffic and have a good PageRank / SERP presence, but also have either a clear personal voice or have built existing relationships.
• Send a personalized email outlining not only what you are looking for but why you are reaching out to them specifically. Template based email requests might work some of the time but all of the top site owners I talk to usually ignore them.
• Offer something. The best blogs and websites focus on giving their readers something of value - you need to do the same.
• Once link is live  send a personalized thank you email.
• Follow-up with the site owner on a regular basis with updates on how things are going - meaning, referral traffic from their site, impact on rankings, etc.
• Wine and Dine them. Now you don’t have to go all out but offer to buy them dinner and / or drinks when they are in town.  Even if the site owner never takes you up on the offer the invitation was still given and it instantly creates a bond.
• Lastly, make them feel special. By this I mean send them “exclusive” information, products, coupons, feature them on your website - whatever you can do. It doesn’t matter what you offer them, people (bloggers especially) love to feel they have something no one else has. Give them this in any form and they will be your friends for life.

There you have my steps to building a SEO linking relationship - I guarantee that the time and effort you spend building relationships willpayy-off greatly in the long run.

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